searx/_sources/dev/engine_overview.txt

Engine overview
===============


searx is a `metasearch-engine <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metasearch_engine>`__,
so it uses different search engines to provide better results.

Because there is no general search API which could be used for every
search engine, an adapter has to be built between searx and the
external search engines. Adapters are stored under the folder
`searx/engines
<https://github.com/asciimoo/searx/tree/master/searx/engines>`__.


.. contents::
   :depth: 3

general engine configuration
----------------------------

It is required to tell searx the type of results the engine provides. The
arguments can be set in the engine file or in the settings file
(normally ``settings.yml``). The arguments in the settings file override
the ones in the engine file.

It does not matter if an option is stored in the engine file or in the
settings. However, the standard way is the following:


engine file
~~~~~~~~~~~

+----------------------+-----------+-----------------------------------------+
| argument             | type      | information                             |
+======================+===========+=========================================+
| categories           | list      | pages, in which the engine is working   |
+----------------------+-----------+-----------------------------------------+
| paging               | boolean   | support multible pages                  |
+----------------------+-----------+-----------------------------------------+
| language\_support    | boolean   | support language choosing               |
+----------------------+-----------+-----------------------------------------+
| time\_range\_support | boolean   | support search time range               |
+----------------------+-----------+-----------------------------------------+

settings.yml
~~~~~~~~~~~~

+------------+----------+-----------------------------------------------+
| argument   | type     | information                                   |
+============+==========+===============================================+
| name       | string   | name of search-engine                         |
+------------+----------+-----------------------------------------------+
| engine     | string   | name of searx-engine (filename without .py)   |
+------------+----------+-----------------------------------------------+
| shortcut   | string   | shortcut of search-engine                     |
+------------+----------+-----------------------------------------------+
| timeout    | string   | specific timeout for search-engine            |
+------------+----------+-----------------------------------------------+

overrides
~~~~~~~~~

A few of the options have default values in the engine, but are
often overwritten by the settings. If ``None`` is assigned to an option
in the engine file, it has to be redefined in the settings,
otherwise searx will not start with that engine.

The naming of overrides is arbitrary. But the recommended
overrides are the following:

+-----------------------+----------+----------------------------------------------------------------+
| argument              | type     | information                                                    |
+=======================+==========+================================================================+
| base\_url             | string   | base-url, can be overwritten to use same engine on other URL   |
+-----------------------+----------+----------------------------------------------------------------+
| number\_of\_results   | int      | maximum number of results per request                          |
+-----------------------+----------+----------------------------------------------------------------+
| language              | string   | ISO code of language and country like en\_US                   |
+-----------------------+----------+----------------------------------------------------------------+
| api\_key              | string   | api-key if required by engine                                  |
+-----------------------+----------+----------------------------------------------------------------+

example code
~~~~~~~~~~~~

.. code:: python

    # engine dependent config
    categories = ['general']
    paging = True
    language_support = True

making a request
----------------

To perform a search an URL have to be specified. In addition to
specifying an URL, arguments can be passed to the query.

passed arguments
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

These arguments can be used to construct the search query. Furthermore,
parameters with default value can be redefined for special purposes.

+----------------------+------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| argument             | type       | default-value, information                                             |
+======================+============+========================================================================+
| url                  | string     | ``''``                                                                 |
+----------------------+------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| method               | string     | ``'GET'``                                                              |
+----------------------+------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| headers              | set        | ``{}``                                                                 |
+----------------------+------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| data                 | set        | ``{}``                                                                 |
+----------------------+------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| cookies              | set        | ``{}``                                                                 |
+----------------------+------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| verify               | boolean    | ``True``                                                               |
+----------------------+------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| headers.User-Agent   | string     | a random User-Agent                                                    |
+----------------------+------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| category             | string     | current category, like ``'general'``                                   |
+----------------------+------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| started              | datetime   | current date-time                                                      |
+----------------------+------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| pageno               | int        | current pagenumber                                                     |
+----------------------+------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| language             | string     | specific language code like ``'en_US'``, or ``'all'`` if unspecified   |
+----------------------+------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------+

parsed arguments
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The function ``def request(query, params):`` always returns the
``params`` variable. Inside searx, the following paramters can be
used to specify a search request:

+------------+-----------+---------------------------------------------------------+
| argument   | type      | information                                             |
+============+===========+=========================================================+
| url        | string    | requested url                                           |
+------------+-----------+---------------------------------------------------------+
| method     | string    | HTTP request method                                     |
+------------+-----------+---------------------------------------------------------+
| headers    | set       | HTTP header information                                 |
+------------+-----------+---------------------------------------------------------+
| data       | set       | HTTP data information (parsed if ``method != 'GET'``)   |
+------------+-----------+---------------------------------------------------------+
| cookies    | set       | HTTP cookies                                            |
+------------+-----------+---------------------------------------------------------+
| verify     | boolean   | Performing SSL-Validity check                           |
+------------+-----------+---------------------------------------------------------+

example code
~~~~~~~~~~~~

.. code:: python

    # search-url
    base_url = 'https://example.com/'
    search_string = 'search?{query}&page={page}'

    # do search-request
    def request(query, params):
        search_path = search_string.format(
            query=urlencode({'q': query}),
            page=params['pageno'])

        params['url'] = base_url + search_path

        return params

returned results
----------------

Searx is able to return results of different media-types.
Currently the following media-types are supported:

-  default
-  images
-  videos
-  torrent
-  map

To set another media-type as default, the parameter
``template`` must be set to the desired type.

default
~~~~~~~

+--------------------+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| result-parameter   | information                                                                                                   |
+====================+===============================================================================================================+
| url                | string, url of the result                                                                                     |
+--------------------+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| title              | string, title of the result                                                                                   |
+--------------------+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| content            | string, general result-text                                                                                   |
+--------------------+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| publishedDate      | `datetime.datetime <https://docs.python.org/2/library/datetime.html#datetime-objects>`__, time of publish     |
+--------------------+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

images
~~~~~~

to use this template, the parameter

+--------------------+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| result-parameter   | information                                                                                                                           |
+====================+=======================================================================================================================================+
| template           | is set to ``images.html``                                                                                                             |
+--------------------+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| url                | string, url to the result site                                                                                                        |
+--------------------+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| title              | string, title of the result *(partly implemented)*                                                                                    |
+--------------------+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| content            | *(partly implemented)*                                                                                                                |
+--------------------+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| publishedDate      | `datetime.datetime <https://docs.python.org/2/library/datetime.html#datetime-objects>`__, time of publish *(partly implemented)*      |
+--------------------+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| img\_src           | string, url to the result image                                                                                                       |
+--------------------+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| thumbnail\_src     | string, url to a small-preview image                                                                                                  |
+--------------------+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

videos
~~~~~~

+--------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| result-parameter   | information                                                                                                  |
+====================+==============================================================================================================+
| template           | is set to ``videos.html``                                                                                    |
+--------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| url                | string, url of the result                                                                                    |
+--------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| title              | string, title of the result                                                                                  |
+--------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| content            | *(not implemented yet)*                                                                                      |
+--------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| publishedDate      | `datetime.datetime <https://docs.python.org/2/library/datetime.html#datetime-objects>`__, time of publish    |
+--------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| thumbnail          | string, url to a small-preview image                                                                         |
+--------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

torrent
~~~~~~~

+------------------+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| result-parameter | information                                                                                                                           |
+------------------+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| template         | is set to ``torrent.html``                                                                                                            |
+------------------+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| url              | string, url of the result                                                                                                             |
+------------------+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| title            | string, title of the result                                                                                                           |
+------------------+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| content          | string, general result-text                                                                                                           |
+------------------+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| publishedDate    | `datetime.datetime <https://docs.python.org/2/library/datetime.html#datetime-objects>`__, time of publish *(not implemented yet)*     |
+------------------+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| seed             | int, number of seeder                                                                                                                 |
+------------------+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| leech            | int, number of leecher                                                                                                                |
+------------------+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| filesize         | int, size of file in bytes                                                                                                            |
+------------------+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| files            | int, number of files                                                                                                                  |
+------------------+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| magnetlink       | string, `magnetlink <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnet_URI_scheme>`__ of the result                                                |
+------------------+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| torrentfile      | string, torrentfile of the result                                                                                                     |
+------------------+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+


map
~~~

+-------------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| result-parameter        | information                                                                                                  |
+=========================+==============================================================================================================+
| url                     | string, url of the result                                                                                    |
+-------------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| title                   | string, title of the result                                                                                  |
+-------------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| content                 | string, general result-text                                                                                  |
+-------------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| publishedDate           | `datetime.datetime <https://docs.python.org/2/library/datetime.html#datetime-objects>`__, time of publish    |
+-------------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| latitude                | latitude of result (in decimal format)                                                                       |
+-------------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| longitude               | longitude of result (in decimal format)                                                                      |
+-------------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| boundingbox             | boundingbox of result (array of 4. values ``[lat-min, lat-max, lon-min, lon-max]``)                          |
+-------------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| geojson                 | geojson of result (http://geojson.org)                                                                       |
+-------------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| osm.type                | type of osm-object (if OSM-Result)                                                                           |
+-------------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| osm.id                  | id of osm-object (if OSM-Result)                                                                             |
+-------------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| address.name            | name of object                                                                                               |
+-------------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| address.road            | street name of object                                                                                        |
+-------------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| address.house\_number   | house number of object                                                                                       |
+-------------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| address.locality        | city, place of object                                                                                        |
+-------------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| address.postcode        | postcode of object                                                                                           |
+-------------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| address.country         | country of object                                                                                            |
+-------------------------+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+